History of Statistics in Slovakia

Last update:
03.10.2018

1715 - is considered to be a beginning of organized statistical surveys in Slovakia, when countrywide registering of population was conducted in Hungary. It was concentrated on heads of households of the groups that were under taxation.

1767 - 1771 - in these years, a registering of servile population (a document from urbarium regulation) was conducted. The register contains data on number of farmers, peasants and their property and legal stratification.

1785 - 1787 - the first census of the whole population in Hungary under the reign of Jozef II. There were recorded name, age, marital status, class status, and ocupation of registered persons, and also data on routine movement of population.

1804 - 1805 - follow-up registering of population in Hungary were conducted in these years.

1828 - follow-up registering of population in Hungary.

1847 - the Central Statistical Office, which performed regular statistical service in Hungary, was constituted. (Its activity related also to the territory of today´s Slovakia, but statistical data were surveyed and evaluated according to regions and chairs).

1919 - According to the Act No. 49/1919 on organization of statistical service in the Czechoslovak Republic, bodies of state statistics were established. On the base of this Act and the Government Regulation of the Czechoslovak Republic, the State Statistical Council as an advisory body and the State Statistical Office as an executive body were constituted. The task of the Statistical Office was to collect statistical material of all kinds needed for administration and science, and to concentrate the whole administrative statistics of all departments. Activity of the State Statistical Office was administered by the plan approved by the Statistical State Council.

1938 - 1945 - two state statistical offices existed - one in Prague and one in Bratislava. In the period of extraordinary state and legal situation, from 1 October 1939 the name of the Office was changed to the Central Statistical Office and the State Statistical Office was constituted in Slovakia in 1940.

1945 - after the end of World War II, the Czech National Council renewed formally and solemnly the activity of the State Statistical Office. In Slovakia, the Decree of the Slovak National Council No. 48/1945 Coll. constituted the State Planning and Statistical Office. A special agreement between the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic and the Slovak National Council was signed in 1946, by which a principle of nationwide integrity of statistical service was recognized. The Act No. 60/1949 Coll. on economic planning specified that the State Statistical Office should be under the President of the State Planning Office. At the same time, the State Planning and Statistical Office in Bratislava was dissolved by this Act.

1951 - The Act No. 108/1951 Coll. on organization of statistical service was issued. This Act determined the State Statistical Office as a governmental body for the field of statistics. At the same time, the Slovak Statistical Office (as a body of the State Statistical Office) directly subordinated to the State Statistical Office was constituted in Slovakia.

1960 - a follow-up institutional adjustment relating to Slovakia was executed. The Slovak Statistical Office was dissolved by the Governmental Decree No. 102/1960 Coll. Within the Slovak Planning Commission, the statistical and documentation department was established.

1961 - The Act No. 56/1961 dissolved the State Statistical Office (and the Ministry of State Control as well) and a new body - the Central Office of State Control and Statistics was constituted.

1967 - The legal measure of the National Assembly No. 1/1967 on changes in organization and field of activity of some of the central bodies was issued. Independent body of the state statistics - the State Statistical Office was again constituted. The Slovak Statistical Office was constituted as a body of the Slovak National Council. At the same time, the Statistical Council was established in the State Statistical Office as well as in the Slovak Statistical Office, but this Council was broadly different as for a field of activity and a position from the Statistical Council constituted in 1919. The same legal measure dealt also with the regional statistical bodies, which were marked as district and regional sections of the State Statistical Office.

1968 - federative system of the Czechoslovak state caused changes also in institutional system of central bodies of state administration. The Act No. 170/1968 Coll. constituted the Federal Statistical Office. The Act of the Slovak National Council No. 207/1968 Coll. on the establishment of ministries and other central state administrative bodies of the Slovak Socialist Republic constituted the Slovak Statistical Office and the Statistical Council. Likewise, the Act of the Czech National Council No. 2/1969 Coll. constituted the Czech Statistical Office (the Statistical Council was not established by this Act).

1971 - Division of tasks among the three central statistical offices till 1971 was handled largely by the system of specific agreements. The issue of the Act No. 21/1971 Coll. on a unitary system of socioeconomic information was an important turning point. This Act changed a position and a field of activity of the Federal Statistical Office. Questions relating to the Czech and the Slovak Statistical Office were amended by the acts of the Czech National Council (No. 40/1972 Coll.) and the Slovak National Council (No. 41/1972 Coll.). These acts amended regional statistical bodies. Name ?regional offices? was introduced for regional bodies, city offices were established in Prague and in Bratislava, district departments in districts and city departments in some towns.

1990 - By the Act of the SNC No. 347/1990, bodies of state administration were formed, among which the Slovak Statistical Office for the field of social and economic information was constituted. Further on, the Act stipulates to all bodies of state administration to ensure cooperation with relevant federal organizations in the field of common interest of the Federative Republic. It related to the Federal Statistical Office in the field of statistics.

1992 - in this year, bodies for the field of state statistics of the Slovak Republic - the Slovak Statistical Office (SSO) and regional statistical bodies were set by the Act of the SNC No. 322/1992 on state statistics. Regional office of the SSO in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica and Košice, municipal office of the SSO for the area of Bratislava, district departments of the SRO for territorial districts and municipal departments of the SSO in Košice for territorial district Košice. In this year, ministries and other bodies of state administration of the SR started with activities that were ensured until that time by the central bodies of state administration of the CSFR in relevant range.

1993 - Independent Slovak Republic was established on January 1. In compliance with Act No. 347/1990 Coll., Organization of ministries, and other central offices of civil service, according to Act No. 2/1993 Coll., Slovak Statistical Office as the central office of civil service was renamed in the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic.

1997 - After amending the Act of the SNC No. 322/1992, the full wording of the Act of the NC SR No. 38/1997 on state statistics was issued constituting the Statistical Office of the SR and regional bodies of statistics - Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Bratislava, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Trnava, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Trenčín, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Nitra, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Žilina, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Banská Bystrica, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Prešov, Regional Office of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in Košice. The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic is a central body of state administration of the Slovak Republic for the field of state statistics and for the field of informatics.

2002 - The new Act No. 540/2001 Coll. on state statistics came into force 1 January 2002. On the base of this Act, legal subjectivity of regional offices (with seat in Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra, Trenčín, Žilina, Banská Bystrica, Košice and in Prešov, which took part in fulfilling the tasks of the SO SR in the fields by relevant specialization for the whole territory of the Slovak Republic in 1996 - 2001) was cancelled from 1 January 2002 and regional offices became directly a part of the Office as its internal organizational units. The Act created a space for strengthening stability and independence of the Office by enacting appointment and recalling of the President of the Office by the President of the SR on a proposal of the Slovak Government with the term of office for five years (with a possibility to re-appoint the same person only for two consequent terms of office).

2003 - The fact that the Program of State Statistical Surveys for the period of three years (2003 - 2005) came into effect for the first time was a significant contribution in methodological, organizational and technological preparation of state statistical surveys. The three-year program strengthened activities of the state statistics of the SR, ensured connection to a program of statistical activity of the European Union and provided higher reference ability to users of statistical information and reporting units. Besides this, the Office put together the list of administrative data sources that became a part of the program of statistical surveys in compliance with the Governmental Decision of the SR (No. 1207/2001). It realized the first steps to more effective use of statistical data and created a possibility to substitute statistical surveys by data from existed administrative sources.

2005 - For the SO SR, the year 2005 was not only the first year of a membership of Slovakia in the European Union, but also the first year of realization of a new development strategy of the SO SR. In connection with the admission of the Slovak Republic to the European Union, representatives of the SO SR began to take part in meetings of working groups and committees of the European Council and the European Commission as a full member with the right to comment proposals of legal acts in the field of statistics and to vote on their acceptance. The European Statistics Code of Practice accepted by the Statistical Program Committee of the European Commission became a significant challenge. The aim of the Code is to increase confidence in independence, integrity and accountability of national statistical offices and EUROSTAT as institutions as well as to strengthen a confidence in credibility and quality of statistics produced and provided by these institutions.

2006 - having in mind the needs for constant improvement of national statistical system, the Office has started to implement the Code of Practice on European Statistics, and with help of World Bank elaborated the plan for development of Slovak Statistical System - Statistical Master Plan. The SOSR successfully finished the work on the first inventory of sources and methods for compilation of national accounts and substantial revision of the system of national accounts for 1995 - 2004, in compilation of quarterly results of gross domestic product it has started to publish flash estimates of GDP and employment. Out of its many further tasks could be mentioned participation in international research EU - SILC, preparation of census of population and housing in 2011 and establishment of database of regional statistics REGSTAT. The quality of work in state statistics was awarded by Quality Certificate ISO 9001:2000 in November 2006.

2007 - Optimisation of state statistics was the priority of the year. It mostly concerned the revision of reporting system, concentrated on reducing the burden on reporting units and reducing the costs on surveys. The Office intensified the works related to upcoming entry of the SR into the Euro zone and to changeover to new currency euro. The Office completed successfully all the works in the field of national accounts, and in business statistics created the conditions for regular production and transmission of data files on internal and external foreign affiliates. The legislative intent of the act on 2011 population and housing census has laid the foundation for creation of wide source of information necessary for prognosis of the trends in demography and for decision-making in social policy of the state. Great progress was made in dissemination and provision of information by putting the new internet portal into operation and by on-line database of regional statistics. The Office, as an integral part of the European Statistical System, has actively participated on initiatives towards the system development, creation of statistical legislation, introduction of new statistical procedures and methods, and increase of comparability and quality of statistical data. The development of the management quality system has continued, as well as implementation of the Code of Practice into all fields. The team of the experts of the European Statistical System has stated, after the examination of implementation, that the SOSR is the professional and well performing institution.

2008 - in this year, when the Office celebrated the 15th anniversary of its existence, the Office management realized many significant steps towards further development. One of them was accepting of the Development Strategy of SOSR to 2012 and therefore the Office aimed mostly at improving the quality of product portfolio, increasing the efficiency of internal environment and improving the quality of relations with external environment. In compliance with the objective to provide customers comfort access to information and to satisfy their requirements as full as possible, the Office focused on a development of the Internet portal, in particular, on a creation of interactive services. Increased attention was paid to rationalization of statistical surveys with the aim to decrease gradually a response burden. It also continued in fulfilling tasks of the National Plan of Euro Changeover. Macro-economic statistics were aimed at a preparation of the report on the level of deficit and debt of public administration, on decadal monitoring of prices of selected goods and services in the Slovak Korunas and in Euro and on the survey of national and harmonized index of consumer prices with the aim to objectify perceived inflation. Centre of works of business statistics was aimed mostly at implementation of the new classification of economic activities SK-NACE Rev.2. The adoption of the Act of the NC SR created conditions for preparation and realization of Census of population and housing 2011 as well as conditions for obtaining information required for forecasting the development of population and conditions for preparation of measures in the national social policy. The Statistical Office also continued in realization of the survey on incomes and living conditions of households EU SILC. One of the permanent priorities was traditionally also international cooperation and co-participation at international statistical activities. A recognition of the performed work of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in the last period was spoken in the speech of the President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič on occasion of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic at the ceremonial conference held on 26 May 2008 in the congress hall of the National Bank of Slovakia.

2009 - was the year of hard work in the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, the year when was adopted and for the first time used a new currency euro, and it was at the same time the year when the Office concentrated in particular on improvement of its efficiency. Continuous implementation of action plans as parts of Strategies for development of the SOSR until 2012 and also smoothly running management quality system (the proof is also audit and awarded certificate Bureau Veritas Certification which is valid until October 2012) are the main attributes which helped the office to fulfil aforementioned objectives. The Office concentrated mostly on rationalisation of statistical surveys, adding importance to methodology of state statistics with the goal to improve quality of statistical production and at the same time decrease expenditures and involvement of respondents. With cooperation with Eurostat, the Office successfully accomplished experimental calculation of index of real estates? prices and its inclusion into calculation of harmonised index of consumer prices. With gradual abolition of compulsory monthly surveys for small businesses and tradesmen and their substitution with more suitable model assessment was achieved further reduction of statistical burden in business statistics. Introduction of new indicators helps to describe more accurately short-time dynamics in Slovak economy during the economic crisis. In social statistics and demography the preparation for population census in 2011, income survey, living conditions in households and European health survey were the main areas of work. Acquired statistics are the major source in international comparison of Slovakia with the rest of the EU. In the field of election statistics the Office processed the votes and published the results of the presidential elections in the SR, the European Parliament elections and elections to Self-Governing Regions of the SR. Following the objectives in the new conception of dissemination of statistics, publication of statistics on the internet became the most dominant and free of charge solution of dissemination of statistics. It includes the increase of number of online databases, development of user-friendly application tools for dissemination of statistics, development of user-friendly products with visualisations, higher number of analytical texts and help sections for easier interpretation. Complete reconstruction of information and communication technologies founded the starting point for building an integrated statistical information system. The office welcomed several important official visits such as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Jan Fischer, General Director of Eurostat, Walter Radermacher and presidents of neighbouring countries? statistical offices.

2010 - The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic attempted to capture all the current trends and development tendencies by participating in their preparation and implementation into the national context. It was specifically reflected in the amendment to the act on state statistics, in the widespread optimization of statistical processes, in the change of the organizational structure and also in the preparation of cost management transition.
In accordance with the new European Union directives and regulations one of the main objectives of macroeconomic statistics was to expand the system of national accounts. Furthermore, in the field of price statistics the Eurostat regulation on price collection of seasonal products was implemented into the calculation of consumer price indices. A new methodology was adopted on the quality adjustment of products and services of the consumer basket. Under the amended act on state statistics, reporting units are from 1 April 2010 obliged to submit reports on foreign trade only in electronic form. In social statistics and demography the highest priority was given to works related to the 2011 Population and Housing Census. Mainly activities concerning the legislation and electronic designing of census tracts were carried out. According to the current trends, the labour and wages statistics made some progress towards the integration with external information systems. The annual statistical reports have been merged with resort surveys which made a positive impact on administrative burden reduction, elimination of duplications and on the reduction of financial and capacity resources of the Office. In 2010, the first European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) results were processed and a systematic data production was conducted from various fields of social statistics, namely ESSPROS.
As regards the dissemination of statistical information, website of the Office has gradually become the major form of dissemination in accordance with the strategic objective. The development of the Internet portal provided full satisfaction of users´ needs by means of creating interactive services, widening the content of online databases, creating pre-defined tables and other electronic products. In relation to the World Statistics Day which was set to 20 October by the United Nations, the Office organized various activities in order to inform the public about the mission and the main tasks of the official statistics in various social spheres and to present the achieved results of the SO SR. One of the main activities was the ?Open Doors Day ? held at the central office and at the regional offices as well.

2011 - the Office conducted several important statistical surveys which influenced the overall activity of the office throughout the year. One of the most important was the population and housing census where the public for the very first time was allowed to complete the census sheets also in electronic form. The aim of another survey, called a Farm Structure Census 2010, was to provide complete data on the Slovak agriculture in accordance with the requirements of the European Union. The conduction of the farm structure survey was an extraordinarily difficult task which required the involvement of all agricultural products manufacturers both market producers and self-suppliers. The Department of Macroeconomic statistics were dealing with the transformation of sectoral data into the system of national accounts as part of the implementation of SK NACE Rev. 2 pursuant to the implementing regulations in force since 2011. The preparation of the new regulation to the revised system of ESNÚ95 which shall enter into force in 2014 was also immensely important in which the experts of the SO SR actively participated. In 2011 the Office had to complete many tasks such as the revision of weighting schemes for the calculation of producer price indices, an extraordinary survey on the preparation of revision of weighting schemes for calculation of construction price indices, a project for calculation of real estate price indices and price indices of goods and services related to owner-occupied dwellings, a pilot survey of selected consumer goods and services and the grant project on purchasing power parity as well. In compliance with the strategic objective to provide high quality and objective statistical products and services and to facilitate the use of customer knowledge, the Statistical Office of the SR conducted a data dissemination policy. Furthermore, the Office satisfied the needs of customers through widening the content of online databases, pre-defined tables and the range of products available on its website. One of the most important public activities was the ?Open Doors Day? held at the central office and at regional offices of the SO SR as well. In 2011, the Office conducted a regular customer satisfaction on-line questionnaire assessing satisfaction with the products and services of the SO SR. Compared with 2009, the overall customer satisfaction slightly increased. The survey results will be taken into account in the creation and dissemination of products as well as in other improvement activities of the Office.

2012 – the year 2012 was the first year of implementation of the Programme of State Statistical Surveys for the years 2012 and 2014, compiled by the SO SR in collaboration with ministries and state organizations. 2012 was also a decisive year in the processing of 2011 Population and Housing Census results. Results of 8 publications issued on basic demographic characteristics were released, and at national level the whole database was updated. The Office further continued in the process of integration of administrative sources to the production of business statistics and prepared a self-evaluation of statistical processes production within quality improvement of statistical products. The Department of National Accounts were dealing with the transformation of sectoral data to the system of national accounts. The preparation of the new regulation related to the system of national and regional accounts ESA2010 which shall enter into force was immensely important. In price statistics, the revision of weighting schemes for calculation of construction price indices, calculation of price indices of agricultural products and price indices of market services were conducted. Activities were aimed at the simplification of the system of INTRASTAT, by means of the so-called SIMSTAT. In the field of business statistics, preparation works of the new base year 2010 and the weighting schemes for calculation of short-term development indices were continued and the survey on the structure of agricultural holdings and methods of agricultural production (Farm Structure Census) were successfully completed. Within the Operational Programme Informatization of Society, the implementation of the project titled Electronic services of the SO SR kept continuing. Its outcome will be input and output electronic services aimed to improve the performance of state statistical surveys. Establishment of the new election information system as an interstage before implementing the online voting for elections is also part of the project.

2013 - a significant long-term strategic project Electronic Services of the SO SR was completed by the end of 2013. A great deal of attention was paid to the preparation of the transmission to the new System of National Accounts ESA 2010 and the beginning of works on the Development Strategy of the SO SR by 2017was also a significant activity. It was aimed at creation of products and services representing customer value, as well as at setting of effective internal processes, knowledge and systems required for the production of this value. In 2013, the integration of the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice into the Integrated Quality Management System continued. In July 2013, the level of implementation of the principles of the Codex in the SO SR and of the national statistical system was examined by a groupof reviewers consisting of representatives the European Statistical System. The pilot evaluation was successfully conducted. In methodology, the Office focused of integration processes of various data sources, as a precondition of further reduction of response burden, as well as cost reduction in respecting the growing needs for the content and quality of information of users. Development in the field of informatics was marked mostly by the above-mentioned national project Electronic services of the SO SR and by another new project Register and identifier of legal entities and entrepreneurs. The most important task of the policy for dissemination of statistical information was the launch of the parallel operation of the existing portal with the new one www.statistics.sk providing modern and customer-oriented approach in the process of dissemination of statistical information, products and services with the consolidated structure of released data. The largest public PR event of the Statistical Office of the SR was the Open Door Day at the Central Office and all the eight Regional Offices. By organizing the Open Door Day, the Statistical Office of the SR supported the International Year of Statistics and joined more than 1600 organizations from 112 countries of the world. In external trade statistics, the grant project of mirror data comparison, on integration of the INTRASTAT system under the Integrated Statistical Information System was implemented. A great challenge in business statistics was the completion of questionnaires by metadata for individual short-term indicators in a new structure National Reference Metadata Editor and their transmission to Eurostat by the end of 2013. By fulfilling this task, the Office ranked among the 13 Member States who sent complete metadata in a required structure and content. By organizing a conference entitled “After the 2011 Census does Slovakia still need another one?” held in Bratislava, in November 2013, the Statistical Office of the SR opened a public discussion about the form and content of the next population and housing census to be held around 2020.

2014 - In 2014, among the Office´s significant activities belonged the approval of the 2017 Development Strategy of the SO SR and the start of the implementation of its action programmes. The Office is actively contributing with these programmes to the implementation of the European Statistical System Vision 2020. Since the beginning of the year, the production operation of the Integrated Statistical Information System (ISIS), enabling electronic collection of 84 statistical surveys, has been fully realized. A new Internet portal based on the IBM WebSphere Portal technology has been put into operation by the Office and a new database presented by STATdat and DATAcube systems have been made accessible to the public. More than 1500 publications issued by the Office since 2010 is made available to those interested, by means of an online catalogue. In 2014, implementation of the project “Register and Identifier of Legal Entities and Entrepreneurs” began and it will provide actual reference data on all legal entities and entrepreneurs registered in the SR. The SO SR managed to implement a new methodology of compiling national accounts, in accordance with the Regulation (EU) of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European system of national and regional accounts ESA 2010 (European System of National and Regional Accounts). In Business statistics, works were continued related to the preparation of the common legal framework FRIBS (Framework Regulation Integrating Business Statistics) focused on the integration of the entire production process of business statistics. It was therefore a great achievement to complete the tool for the weights calibration and its presentation at the European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics (Q2014) in Vienna. In 2014, the SO SR compiled and issued the Programme of State Statistical Surveys for the next three-year period 2015-2017. A new electronic data collection capturing also the most extensive annual statistical surveys, has been launched within the ISIS. During the year, the Farm Structure Surveys 2013 were ensured by the Office, in order to provide compatible information on the Slovak agriculture in a European perspective. In Foreign trade statistics, work efforts were focused mainly on the integration of the INTRASTAT system under the ISIS and trial tests for the micro-data exchange within the SIMSTAT project. In the field of confidential statistical data, it is worth mentioning the preparation of the encrypted database file from the 2011 Population and Housing Census, available for researchers for scientific purposes. Results of the testing the redesign of family accounts have been implemented into practice. The scientific journal Slovak Statistics and Demography has undergone important changes. By setting up a working group of the SO SR for the preparation of the 2021 Population and Housing Census, the Office began actively preparing for the next census.

2015 – During the year, the Statistical Office of the SR managed to prepare the sufficient conditions required for the mandatory electronic data collection through the project of the Electronic Services. The electronization process enabled to harmonise the deadlines for the submission of certain statistical reports with the deadlines for the submission of VAT statements (short-term surveys), or income tax (long-term surveys) without threatening the production of statistical outputs. In cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of the SR and the Ministry of Interior of the SR, the project Register and Identifier of Legal Entities, Entrepreneurs and Public Authorities (RLE) has successfully been completed, aiming to simplify administration, reducing bureaucracy and easier and faster access to data from the register. In connection with the World Statistics Day, the Office ensured various awareness-raising activities in the field of official statistics. During 2015, the Office was intensively preparing for the performance of tasks related to the historically first chairing of the meetings of the Council Working Party on Statistics, to be held in the second half of 2016. For enhanced confidence in the National Statistical System (NSS), the Concept of Coordination of the NSS was approved by the SO SR whose principal objective is to establish a well-functioning NSS, in line with the customer demands, the national and international standards, including the European Statistical System (ESS) quality standards. In 2015, works have been progressing in the preparation of the common legislative framework FRIBS (Framework Regulation Integrating Business Statistics) focusing on the integration of the entire production process of business statistics. The step-by-step solution of specific reservations of Eurostat regarding the issue of Sources and methods used for the compilation of the gross national income (GNI Inventory-SK) was of particular importance. At the end of the year, the European Commission accepted the resolution procedures proposed by the SO SR and for the Slovak Republic it has withdrawn all reservations in respect of the context 4 for the EU´s own resources based on the gross national income. Within the preparation of the Framework Regulation for the Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS), attention was paid to the commenting on relevant documents and testing of methodology and procedures. In 2015, modernisation of statistics continued, in the field of standardisation of the production process and integration tools (registers, classifications, code lists), data collection regarding the sources, methods and forms, data processing, production and dissemination of statistical outputs. The SO SR started preparatory works concerning the sampling methodology of business statistical surveys, addressed the further reduction of the administrative burden of the Intrastat system through the project Redesign of Intrastat, paid increased efforts to the completion of the Simstat project focused on testing micro-data exchange within selected EU countries. In order to enhance the statistical processes, reduce respondent burden and costs, a redesign of the statistics of family accounts was implemented. The Office´s preparation for the 2021 Population and Housing Census began with the activities of the Working Group for Census. In February 2015, the results of the referendum were processed for the first time by means of the Integrated election information system (IEIS) and subsequently preparatory works were initiated for processing of election results to the National Council of the SR 2016. In developing the Office´s strategic management, we have focused on the implementation of programmes of the Strategic Development of the SO SR until 2017, contributing to the increase of its performance and fulfilment of certain projects of the Vision of the European Statistical System until 2020. The Office regularly carried out the Customer Satisfaction Survey on products and services of the SO SR via online questionnaire. The survey results provide an important feedback on the needs and expectations of statistical users. The range of products disseminated via the Internet portal has been extended and the establishment of the public database continued. The ability of the Office to provide statistical products and services consistently fulfilling the expectations, was proved by the third certification audit of the Quality Management System of the SO SR, conducted in October 2015 by an internationally recognized certification body, Bureau Veritas Slovakia.

2016 - The SO SR, for the first time in history, has accomplished a task of chairing the meetings of the Council Working Party on Statistics, during the Presidency of the SR. The results of the work carried out by the Presidency Team were assessed positively by the highest representatives of Eurostat. The Office also commemorated the European Statistics Day for the first time. In connection with it, the SO SR organized a conference “Statistics-a mirror of society”. The event was held under a patronage of Eurostat and it was focused on the Office´s relations as a producer of statistics with their users from the scientific and scholarly community, state and local administration, banking sector, business sphere and the media. The complex electronic data capture was launched. Electronization lead to administrative burden reduction for the reporting units, greater comfort in completion of statistical forms and improvement of data processing. The Register of Legal Entities has been declared a reference register, upon which it became an obligatory data source on legal entities for other public authorities. Within the modernisation of price statistics, in the field of processing of consumer prices, a new term “scanner data” emerged. These are called transaction data and serve for the calculation of consumer price index. The data are obtained directly from traders, containing information on prices. These data can complement or completely replace the traditional data collection for prices. The results of the elections to the National Council of the Slovak Republic were processed in the Integrated Election Information System. One of the priority projects of 2016 was the preparation of the 2021 Population and Housing Census, as an integrated one. It focused on the proposed implementation concept of the integrated census which is a combination of data from administrative sources, registers and field data in order to reduce the administrative burdens for citizens. It was extremely important to draw up the new version, the so-called Sources and Methods for the compilation of the Gross National Income of Eurostat (GNI Inventory-SK, ESA 2010), containing the updated ESA methodology. In business statistics, there were continuing works regarding the preparation of the legal framework for FRIBS, integrating the entire production process of business statistics. In the field of agricultural statistics, the Office focused on the preparation of the Farm Structure Survey 2016. This survey aims to provide complete information on the Slovak agriculture, compatible with the requirements of European legislation. Within the achievement of the 2030 Agenda´s goals, approved by the UN in September 2015, in December 2016, the SO SR issued a publication “Slovak Republic and the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda”. It is the first comprehensive publication for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda´s sustainable development goals in the Slovak Republic. In connection with the new ISO 9001:2015 standard and the implementation of the Development Strategy of the SO SR until 2017, the realization of the strategic action programme has come to the fore which aimed at the compilation of competency matrices for statistical employees as a precondition for the efficient increase of the educational process, as well as the realisation of the programme creating favourable electronic environment for knowledge sharing in the SO SR.

2017 - The SO SR continued in the trend of improving the production quality. This trend has been confirmed by a successful repeated external audit. As a result of the recognition of the Quality Management System, the highest appreciation, the Top Quality Manager of 2017, was granted to the SO SR´s quality manager. The continuing process of the electronization of statistical data collection resulted in the reduction of the administrative burden of reporting units and more favourable deadlines for the submission of selected statistical forms. As a consequence, from the nearly 436 thousand forms, 86,44 % were submitted electronically. During the year, the intensive preparation of the entirely new concept of the 2021 Population and Housing Census continued. For the first time, this comprehensive census will be conducted by a combination of administrative data sources and field surveys complementing the existing model by the processing of millions of data from various institutional sources. In 2017, a strategic priority for the SO SR remained the consistent and well-functioning National Statistical System (NSS). In order to enhance coordination of the NSS, the Office carried out a survey enabling to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the NSS and explore its scope for improvement. The SO SR achieved significant progress in modernisation and consolidation of the Office´s public databases by integrating the Slovstat database into a uniform public database DATAcube. which comprehensively addressed the content availability of statistical data for the users with the possibility to create their own outputs. In 2017, the macroeconomic statistics sought for the compilation of annual accounts for 2016 and quarterly accounts (4th quarter of 2016 and the first three quarters of 2017) and the compilation of regional accounts for 2015 and 2016. In Business statistics, work continued regarding the preparation of the legal framework for FRIBS (Framework Regulation Integrating Business Statistics), as well as commenting to the revision of rules of agricultural statistics after 2020 and works on the project of the Farm Structure Survey 2016. In environment statistics, three new environmental accounts have been introduced to the production process. In 2017, the implementation of the Agenda 2030 continued, The SO SR took on the task of chairing the Expert Group on Indicators and Monitoring whose main mandate is the production of indicators to the national priorities for implementing the 2030 Agenda. In the field of methodology, the SO SR focused on the modernisation of price statistics using data on consumer prices from retail chains, the so-called scanner data, into their production. Through the Integrated Election Information System, the SO SR ensured the processing of the results of the Elections to the bodies of self-governing regions of the Slovak Republic and the results of the new/by-elections to the bodies of municipal and city councils. The SO SR commemorated the European Statistics Day also in 2017, on 20 October. In November, the Office presented its most interesting products and services in the exhibition Bibliotheca/Pedagogica 2017, in Bratislava. In the field of European affairs, the Office´s experts played an active role and within the EU, they attended important meetings and seminars of Eurostat and actively participated in various working groups and committees.